Sandi Peterson (born 1959) is an American businesswoman. She is currently an Operating Partner at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and serves on the
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
Board of Directors. She was group worldwide chairman at Johnson & Johnson from 2012-2018 and previously held leadership positions at
Bayer
Bayer AG (English: , commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies and biomedical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer' ...
The youngest of six children, Peterson received her
bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
Cornell University
Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
applied economics
Applied economics is the application of economic theory and econometrics in specific settings. As one of the two sets of fields of economics (the other set being the ''core''), it is typically characterized by the application of the ''core'', i.e ...
from
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
From 1987 to 1993, Peterson worked in strategy, finance, sustainability, and product development at Whirlpool Corporation, and later at Nabisco. In 2000, Peterson accepted a leadership position at Medco Health Solutions. In 2005, she became president of Bayer Medical Care. She also received a fellowship from the Robert Bosch Foundation in
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, and spent a year serving with the German Federal Ministry of Finance and the Federation of German Industries. In 2010, she was promoted to chairman and chief executive officer of Bayer CropScience AG.
Peterson was formerly the chair of the conservation research charity EcoHealth Alliance (previously called Wildlife Trust). and served on the board of directors at Dun & Bradstreet. In 2015 she joined the board of directors of
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
and is the lead independent director.
Peterson often advocates for women in business, and was featured in a multi-part series of interviews on the subject by ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
'' in 2011. She is a trustee of the
Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...
in Princeton, New Jersey.
Johnson & Johnson
In December 2012, Peterson accepted a position at Johnson & Johnson as group worldwide chairman, which made her the highest-ranking woman at the company. ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' reported that Johnson & Johnson had "wooed" Peterson during the hiring process for several months. Before Peterson was hired, the company had been reported as having difficulties with product recalls and declining sales. Peterson's hiring was part of a company-wide overhaul meant to address these issues. Peterson also joined the company's executive committee and relocated from Germany, where she had worked for Bayer, to
New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.women in the workplace. By 2014, the company had doubled its number of women in executive leadership positions, to 33% of its corporate staff. When interviewed about the change, Peterson said, "If you think of it, the population is half female, so that's where we should be n terms of leadership We feel pretty good, but we still have a long way to go".
On October 1, 2018, Peterson retired from Johnson & Johnson
Honors and awards
In 2013, the National Association for Female Executives gave Peterson their "woman of achievement" award. In 2014, Peterson received the Corporate Vision Award from Gilda's Club, New York City, a charity foundation supporting cancer victims and their families. That same year, ''Forbes'' ranked Peterson at number 20 on its list of the "most powerful women in business". In 2015, The Committee of 200 named Peterson the recipient of its annual "corporate innovator" award.
In June 2015, Peterson traveled to
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
to give a presentation on healthcare policy to government leaders at the G7 summit.